Drowning the Past
by mountain-strider
Summary: What if the one thing you always wished for, wasn’t what you were expecting?Fantasies, dreams… gone to waste, replaced instead, by loss and grief.Would you give up? Or would you fight...OC,no 10th walker!
1. Chapter 1

What if the one thing you always wished for, wasn't what you were expecting?

Fantasies, dreams… gone to waste, replaced instead, by loss and grief.

Would you give up? Or would you fight to finally fill the emptiness that's been haunting the very depths of your soul. Would you give up…

Snow covered the many peaks of the massive mountains, sometimes even reaching down to the first few trees of the beautiful forest that was spread throughout the valley.

A light breeze grazed the many treetops here and there, causing them to sway back and forth,

drifting over the long blades of yellow grass on the fields that occasionally interrupted the flowing density of the forest. Little springs quelled here and there, clumsily trickling towards the calm river.

The familiar scenario surrounded her, as she looked down upon the landscape from a higher clearing.

This was the reason why she came here frequently. To get away from life and enjoy the peace and quiet nature provided for whoever needed it.

Breathing in the familiar scent of the forest and listening to the familiar sounds of the forest. The whispering between the trees or the occasional chirps of a bird. She smiled at the sky. If she had her way, she would stay like this forever, relaxing against the big rock and watching the valley.

This was where she would come to, to find peace and feel safe when things were getting too rough back home.

Home. Her smile faded and her gaze drifted down at the yellow blades of grass between her fingers. Home.

Her thoughts were interrupted though by a frantic barking and the familiar response of a squeak. The smile was back immediately as she got up and looked for the familiar scene awaiting her further down the hill.

A black and white Jack Russell Terrier was chasing a black squirrel up a tree, barking in defeat. The dog circled the pine tree occasionally, whining and shooting desperate looks at its owner. The girl grinned at her companion and sighed. This was another hopeless case for the poor animal that just couldn't understand that squirrels were meant to climb trees. After another few whines, the dog finally gave up and trotted towards her in defeat.

Kneeling down, the girl patted the black head and comforted him "Cheer up babe, you'll catch up next time." Standing up again she turned around and made towards her belongings that lay beside the rock. She was going to stay for a while this time, that was why she was in the middle of setting up camp in this secluded spot.

Although she felt safe during the day, the night was different. She wouldn't pretend that the forest didn't have the occasional unwanted visitors, so she had to try and make sure they were safe while they were asleep.

The next day was dawning and the sun slowly crept over the rock, waking the young woman. "George?" She coughed, trying to regain her voice before calling her dog again.

She felt something stir by her legs and smiled. Her gaze drifted over camp, checking if everything was still where it was supposed to be, stopping at the remaining embers of the fire.

She would have to start the fire up again so she could make some tea.

Stretching she got up and walked towards the fire place chucking in some random pieces of wood she had collected the earlier day on her way here.

Waiting for the wood to catch fire she returned to her sleeping bag, airing it before rolling it together again. George was up and about already, sniffing the air and skirting the first of the trees again. He won't go far she told herself as she started to pack her things together.

There wasn't much, but she still preferred to keep her things together rather than forgetting or loosing random implements. After taking the kettle off the fire and waiting for the water to cool off a little, she stretched her legs a bit.

The valley was immerged in the golden morning sun and the many different greens of the trees melted together, giving the observer an unearthly feeling.

Checking the nearby trees for her dog, she was amazed by how beautiful the sunrays shone through the many trees, parting them through the tiniest gap and lighting up various patches of ground.

The now golden grass shone vibrantly and she wished she had brought a camera along to capture the beautiful scene.

She stopped, distracted by something on the ground. There underneath a tree, were some disturbing tracks she hadn't noticed the day before.

Stretching one last time, she went and crouched down next to them. They were quite big. Most probably from some sort of mountain cat. A Puma or a lynx. Maybe a wolf. She wasn't sure.

She loved nature but she didn't grow up learning the different animal tracks in school.

Neither did she join the boy scouts or any other organization that concerned these matters. Right now she wished she did.

What did this mean? Was she safe on the ground or did she have to build something on a tree? Was she even safe on a tree if the predator was a mountain cat? Were there even mountain cats around here? What if the tracks were something absolutely different than what she was expecting?

Sighing, she stood up and turned back, looking forward to her tea.

A few hours later, the fire was put out and everything was packed to go. Making sure there wasn't much to give away her having been here, she made towards the river.

Kneeling by the calmer water she washed up and filled up her thermos with fresh water. The mysterious prints were still bothering her. They stole an important part of her feeling secure here.

Frowning, she dried her hands and decided to turn back to her car and go back home. She wasn't prepared for any major wild life. She would need more knowledge and different equipment before daring to come face to face with one of them. Whatever it was.

That was her other worry. What was it?

Absolutely convinced of turning back home, or at least back to civilization, she called George and followed the river for a while.

She didn't notice the prying eyes in the dense forest.

Back at her car she started to unpack and load her things for her return. There was a slight breeze and her map slipped from the open trunk and landed next to a tire.

She stopped breathing. Her gaze was fixed on her tire and she felt the familiar feeling of fear weighing down on her chest. Her tire had been cut open. All four of them were in fact, demolished.

He couldn't have known…He wouldn't know.-

Feeling her cheeks burn up she rummaged through her backpack looking for her knife, when she heard something behind her.

Closing her grip around the hilt she waited for another sound. This time it was clearer and she was sure that she was being followed now.

Counting to three she turned around holding the knife out at her attacker.

A laugh.

Her arm started to tremble after recognizing that laugh that haunted her dreams frequently. Panicking, she turned to all directions pointing the simple knife everywhere.

The laughing started again and she backed up towards her car. She was trapped. There wasn't anyone around here for miles who could hear her distress calls or come for help.

He would come here and finish what he started and all she had to defend herself with was a silly knife she bought at some hardware store for 5 dollars.

She could run. But he'd outrun her. She could try to fight him. But he was stronger than her.

There was another rustle and then, finally, the man stepped out from the underbrush revealing himself.

She couldn't hold back a horrified gasp as she recognized the features of Matt, her attempted murderer and reason why she kept fleeing from civilization.

She had loved him once, but those feelings were lost beneath fear, angst and disgust.

"You were hard to trace, Sydney." The man looked very satisfied and was smiling at his victim.

"Just like hunting you need to know your preys resources, its habits and its surroundings. I think I've fulfilled those requirements, don't you? All I need to do now is kill you. You'll be my greatest trophy." He smirked, coming uncomfortably closer towards the vehicle.

Sydney heard a familiar sound but before she could react George had jumped out of the truck and gone after her former lover. Something made her re-grip her knife and run for it.

But her senses returned shortly after and she picked up a stone and managed to bruise Matt's skull after throwing it at him, making him sink to his knees.

Picking up George who had done a fairly well job ruining Matt's pants she ran back where she came from.

After a while she set the dog down and continued running blindly through the woods.

Her hopes of thinking she'd escaped him were diminished when she heard several twigs snap not far behind her and heard his ragged breathing.

Tears made her sight almost impossible but she kept going, fervently trying to escape him.

To her horror she was forced to stop abruptly. Fifty feet below her was a canyon and a very rough river. Her dog was nowhere in sight.

She looked back towards the forest in panic, waiting for the moment he would emerge.

Just then Matt appeared from the thicket, catching his breath. The look on his face was terrifying. His eyes were void of all emotion and Sydney was convinced that he wouldn't hesitate any longer. This was it.

Matt pulled out a dagger from its hold on his belt and approached her slowly.

"This is all your fault Syd. It wouldn't have had to be this way."

" No Mathew. It was yours." Sydney suddenly felt courageous enough to contradict him.

"It was yours and you know it. Me leaving you is _your_ fault and probably the biggest mistake you've ever made. I think I suffered enough. You know you can't blame me for leaving you."

Sydney knew Matt was determined to do what he came here for. He wasn't a man that could be influenced easily. He did what he liked, and got what he wanted.

Sydney stared at him not noticing the tear running down her cheek.

Where the hell was George? She couldn't wait for him any longer. She had to act fast, and this was not how she was going to die. Clenching her teeth she pulled her courage together one last time.

"Goodbye Matt." She whispered before taking one step back and plunged into the ice cold water and vanished beneath the surface.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you very much for your reviews! Don't worry about George he'll be fine. He's better off than Sydney, and yes, Eomér will eventually enter this story.It is after all labeled under his name right?) I hope you enjoy this chapter and please bear in mind that English is not my first written language and that I'm working without a Beta. Enjoy!

**Chapter 2**

Sydney was washed up on land by the now calmer current. A wave took hold of her and toppled her onto her back, making her cough up some water.

Gasping for breath she closed her eyes and tried to calm down.

She was still quite weary from her rough acquaintance with the river and lay back down, letting her surroundings spin around for another few seconds.

After recovering from the dizziness she sat up.

Right in front of her was a lake.

There was a _lake _in front of her. There weren't any lakes marked on her map the last time she checked it.

She felt a headache coming and decided to dismiss that thought for a while. She'd rather get her clothes dry first and find a place to sleep. The sun was past noon already and she wasn't going to risk straying around too far and get herself more lost than she already was.

She took off her pants and jacket and spread them out on a big rock.

While she was lying beside her clothes reality suddenly caught up with her.

"George?"

Clearing her throat and trying to find her voice she tried again.

Nothing.

She started to tremble before losing control and started to sob.

Where was she? Images shot through her head as she started to remember what happened to her.

This was all too much for her. She needed her dog, something, someone.

Pulling herself together she started to gaze around. There was a dense forest around the lake, a forest she'd never seen in her life. The trees were taller than usual and there wasn't any path that led to the lake, nor river. Behind the forest on the other side of the lake, a chain of mountains stretched into the distance.

How the heck did she get here if there wasn't any river that flushed her here? Her headache was inevitable now and she started to panic. Did Matt follow her? What if he jumped in after her, bringing her here to drown? Did that make sense?

Not waiting for him to pop out all of a sudden she decided to climb a tree and hide. Making up her mind that she'd sleep up there as well just to be safe she turned around and tackled a rather large oak tree.

To her surprise she caught a glance of something that seemed to have some sort of plateau quite high above.

Determined, she started to climb it. But that wasn't as easy as she suspected. She kept sliding down, scarping her hands.

"Shit" she mumbled. Time was getting short and she needed to get up there. Going through her pockets, she found her knife.

She used it to get a better grip on the wood while climbing the broad tree. It was difficult and she used all the strength she could muster before she finally was able to grab onto a branch.

"Please," she whispered "Don't snap."

She was quite a bit above ground already and she wouldn't be able to get back up if she'd fall.

Luckily the branches seemed to hold her and when she reached the platform, she collapsed and gasped for breath.

By now she wasn't sure how far up she was, but as she glanced down, she knew that her next task was to get down there again unharmed tomorrow.

Rolling over she examined the platform. The wood was entirely different than any normal oak tree wood. The boards were not polished or all to smooth at all, but there was some sort of perfection to it. Everything was adjusted to each other almost perfectly and on the other side she recognised something carved into the boards.

She crawled over there and ran her fingers over the runes. She never ever saw anything like them. Maybe they were some sort of secret alphabet some kids carved into the wood, while playing here.

But what kind of kids were able to get up here in the first place, and how would they have been able to get down again?

She noticed that now very familiar headache step in and groaned.

She tried to make herself comfortable and kept close to the tree trunk.

She would climb the mountains tomorrow to figure out where she was. Maybe she'd spot a village.

Laying back down onto the rock she tried to sleep for a while. After all, who knew if she would be able to catch some sleep at all tonight?

Trying to relax, Sydney watched the sky grow dark and looked forward to the first few stars to appear.

But it didn't take much longer until she fell asleep.

Sydney was awakened by barking and howling. Her stomach dropped as she started to tremble.

There were wolves in this forest.

She wasn't going to look down, no, that would definitely not calm her down.

Instead she gazed up at the sky and looked for some familiar constellations. The little dipper, or maybe the big bear.

But to her amazement she couldn't find neither. Nothing. No polar star or anything that looked familiar to her moderate knowledge of astronomy.

"Great. This is getting more comforting by the minute." She sighed as she tried to regain sleep after her being woken up.

The next morning Sydney woke up by the rumble of her stomach.

All of her muscles were aching and she was reminded of her tree climb.

She crawled towards the edge to gaze down and decide whether she would prefer to die of hunger, or of falling forty feet to the ground. - Tough choice, she thought sarcastically.

She turned around to grab her jacket but instead was scared out of her wits and tumbled over backwards, over the edge.

Screaming she tried to grab hold on one of the branches but instead grasped a hand. The same hand that belonged to the stranger who was sitting right behind her.

Struggling she tried to free herself but then decided it might not be that wise, and let herself be pulled up again.

As soon as she was safe again she scrambled to her jacket and pulled out her knife, which looked quite scrawny after it was used so roughly yesterday.

Not really caring she turned around again and pointed it at her attacker.

He was gone.

"You must be kidding me." She gasped for breath still quite taken aback by it all.

Where did he go to? She wasn't dreaming.

"Hello! Show yourself you creep!"

Regretting those last words she backed up to the tree again. But instead of meeting the hard feel of wood, she bumped up against something softer.

She caught her breath. He was directly behind her again. Not daring to move this time she tried to control her trembling.

Seconds passed by and none of them moved.

It was all too much for Sydney as she started to sob. "Please…I beg you don't hurt me."

He placed his hand on her shoulder catching her by surprise so she reflectively lashed out with her other hand, injuring both him and part of her shoulder.

Seconds later she found herself disarmed and bound.

The man in front of her seemed to be cursing in a funny language while he examined his bruised hand. She had gotten him pretty bad she thought proudly.

Two sky-blue eyes were blazing her angrily while bandaging his hand. He had long blond hair which was kept back by two subtle braids on either side of his temple.

His pale skin and rather fragile looking appearance was rather deceiving as well, she thought bitterly. This guy was strong. And he was armed too. She couldn't keep her gaze from occasionally drifting to two long daggers he kept at his side. She wouldn't stand a chance with her silly little knife.

Studying him further she discovered a brooch at the nape of his neck. It was designed after a leaf and shone without attracting much attention. The brooch held together a grey cloak that hid a bow and a casket full of arrows.

Yep, she was definitely in advantage.

"Who are you?" she asked nonchalantly.

The man didn't answer. Instead he kept tending his hand and going through a small sort of bag.

It was then that his hair showed her the prominent structure of his ears. Elfish ears!

She gasped at her discovery making him spin towards her waiting for yet another attack of hers.

This was definitely not normal and she was slowly seriously doubting him being human after all.

He approached her now and started to cut her clothing. Was he going to rape her now?

What was going on? Tears were silently slithering down her face when he stopped.

"I need to clean your wound."

She nodded silently and let him continue to cut off a piece from her shirt. Then, carefully lifting the injured area on her shoulder, he cut open there as well.

Sydney clenched her teeth together as he started to dab her wound with some sort of remedy he used on himself earlier. She would just have to trust him.

After he finished she caught his eye, and muttered a lame "Thank you."

He merely nodded and sat back down opposite her.

After staring at each other what seemed like ages he asked "Where do you hail from?"

"Excuse me?" Sydney wasn't sure what to make of this unusual request.

The man patiently repeated his question.

"If you mean where I come from, I'm from Europe."

He looked confused, eyebrows drawn together. "I have never heard of that place. Where in Middle Earth is it?"

-Middle Earth? What was he talking about? Middle Earth did not exist.

"I think you're mistaken. Europe is not in Middle Earth. Middle Earth does not exist, sir."

The elf, Sydney was quite sure of now given the unusual request about the nonexistent country, looked at her suspiciously.

"You wear unusual clothing. I have never seen anything like it before."

"Well so do you thank you very much. I don't recall leggings being the latest fashion for men Robin Hood." Sydney replied quite offended.

She looked down at her jeans and Timbs. There definitely was nothing wrong with what she was wearing. Her shirt and sweater were perfectly fine as well.

He looked confused "Who is this Robin Hood you speak of?"

Syd rolled her eyes "Never mind."

Once again silence set in.

"So what are you going to do with me now? Kill me? Please go ahead it's not like I'm going to escape anytime soon and I sure as hell won't be missed when I'm gone. That enough information?" she snapped. Part of her really didn't care anymore, but she tried the old reverse psychology trick. Apart from that she'd much rather be dead than return to her former life and it didn't look like he was going to let her go, after how she reacted when he touched her the first time.

"It is not my choice for you to live. This is the land of Rohan and King Eomér shall decide what the future shall bring for you." He answered. And with that he picked her up and placed her over his shoulders slowly moving towards a big branch.

She started laughing. Eomér? What was this fruitcake blabbing on about? These were all fictional people and locations. She'd read the Lord of the Rings a long time ago and loved it. But this? This was a bad joke and she was eager to find out who was playing it on her.

But before she was able to protest they were already descending the big oak tree.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

Just as Sydney predicted they had to cross the mountains, and, obviously, it wasn't easy.

Neither was her company. Legolas refrained from saying anything while they tramped through the dense forest. It seemed like he was avoiding her but Sydney knew he was actually looking around for any danger. And maybe, avoiding her just so much that she wouldn't be able to run away.

- As if I'd run away from a guy with unearthly agility who owns two daggers and a bow with lots of arrows. She thought sarcastically.

She tried her best to keep up with his pace till now, but slowly she felt drained. Pondering over what might happen to her if she'd collapse anytime soon, she didn't notice Legolas had stopped, bumped into him and fell over.

Rubbing her backside after getting up she gave him a look and said "Thank you for reminding me I still have my funny bone."

For some reason the elf thought this amusing and smiled for the first time since they'd met. "Charming" she mumbled under her breath.

Obviously Legolas had stopped for a reason and as Sydney looked around she couldn't distinguish anything specifically important.

He pointed upwards and Syd felt her stomach lurch. There was another tree to climb. She approached it carefully and ran her hand over the bark, shivering. She looked back at Legolas who looked at her behaviour very strangely.

Sighing in defeat she told him "I…I won't manage. To climb the tree I mean."

The elf looked impassively at her. "Did you not climb one just like this where I found you?"

"Yeah, well I didn't prance around the forest or climb halfway up a mountain before that."

"Try."

Sydney was too exhausted to argue about whether or not she'd be able to climb the tree. Instead she shrugged and approached the trunk, cautiously looking for anything she could set foot upon.

A few minutes later she was half way up but couldn't remember doing much. Confused she looked down at a curious elf and almost lost her grip. Struggling up the last few metres, she collapsed on a similar plateau.

She was accompanied shortly after.

Ignoring him, she started to look after herself. Examining the profile of her shoes, rubbing her hands, dusting off her shirt.

Legolas in turn started to rummage in his pack and pulled out something that looked very familiar to toast.

He offered her some but she denied it. She wasn't going to give in to the hunger. She would be able to go through a day without food if it had to be.

"It is unwise."

Sydney took her time to answer. "How come?"

"We have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow. Past this valley and into the plains of Rohan. We will have to move swiftly, for we are going to be very visible. That is why I strongly advise-", "Listen. Slowly I'm getting tired of this little prank you're playing here. I don't remember how I landed in that lake but if- if Matt set you up to do this…To lure me somewhere-" she stopped, embarrassed. "Excuse me…I'm not sure…nothing makes sense anymore." Her mind drifted back at the night she tried to analyze the sky to figure out where she was, the wolves, the mystical runes. Actually the mysterious lake was reason enough to convince her that she wasn't in the alpine area she started off in.

Legolas studied her as she thought over all the evidence, silently brooding, but said nothing.

Sydney felt scared, lost and especially, alone. A unknown force pressed down on her and she felt very helpless. Shivering she wrapped her arms around herself and broke down, silently weeping.

In all this time Legolas had not moved a muscle. Instead he pushed some of the food over to her and a flask with water.

Sydney tried to calm down and gladly took some sips of water. She closed her eyes and breathed through deeply.

"I set off with George, my dog…" and she told him her whole journey up to the point where she jumped into the currant and woke up unconscious. "You see, I have no idea where I am and…I wished I knew whether, whether my dog survived-" her voice broke, but she caught herself.

"I found that tree by chance. I knew I had to get up there. Somehow. If I hadn't I wouldn't have survived the night considering all the wolves." She leaned back against the tree trunk and sighed.

"Your story is very interesting." The elf began. "What I do not understand, is how you were able to climb that tree."

Sydney was speechless. She had just confided her whole situation to him and all he could wonder about was how she got up a _tree_?

-You must be joking, she thought dumbfounded.

"Wh- What?"

"The tree. How did you climb it?" Came the same question again.

Sydney chuckled, laughed and completely lost control and laughed maniacally.

"Do you mean to tell me that from everything I've told you, the only thing worth asking questions about is that stupid tree I climbed?" She shook her head and started chuckling again.

"I consider it interesting, because I know of no mortal who has ever managed to find, not to mention climb a tree which can only be seen and climbed by elven kind."

Sydney knew nothing to say about that. "So I ask you again. How did you do it?"

Annoyed, Sydney carelessly threw the remains of her knife over to him.

"It wasn't easy." She growled.

After examining the shrubby piece of metal he handed it back to her. "But today you climbed this tree without the help of your knife."

The look in his sky-blue eyes would have seemed quite shrewd to anyone, but somehow Sydney read curiosity, respect and pride in them.

"I guess two hours of practicing paid off then." She replied airily, but actually was quite tempted to find out more about this new habit of hers. How did she find it? Was it just luck or was she really special?

Luck seemed more plausible to her.

The next day the stood at the edge of the forest. In front of them was nothing but wide and beautiful plains flowing into each other like waves in the sea. Here and there big rocks dotted parts of the plains. Sydney crouched down and grabbed a bunch of the blond grass.

"This is Rohan?" she turned to look at Legolas.

"Aye." He too seemed to be quite taken by the view in front of them. "We should hurry." He said gravely, glancing back into the forest.

Sydney took off after him but couldn't stop herself from glancing back into the place in which her journey began. The forest had a sentimental value for her. Especially since she found out she might be able to be someone special after all.

A/N: Thanks for the many reviews I still can't believe people are actually reading this...oO

Hehe. I'm sorry to say that there might not be any further chapters until mid december.hides from angry mob I just graduated from school and am taking a well deserved holiday in Asia and then learning some Espagnol in Madrid. If I find a -café and some privacy you guys might get lucky. But I don't want to make promises I can't guarantee to keep.

I know some of you are wondering "Where the heck is Éomer?" No worries he'll show up.)

This is a Legolas, Éomer and OC fic and I'm really trying to make this asrealistic as possible without getting too Mary-Sueish.If I do, in the name of God please let me know so I can change that.

Once again thanks for reading, reviewing and your patience with my grammar mistakes.


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